Team aims for double challenge
by Glen Gibbs | Peak Sports
Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 11:12 AM CST

Powell River Regals team has added the Allan Cup to its agenda for the 2009-10 season.

The AA team has attempted the double once before in 2002 and although it achieved great success, Regals lost a 2-1 overtime decision to host Trail in the Coy Cup final while the AAA team was swept by the Stony Plain Eagles in the MacKenzie Cup.

Spokesman Scott Mastrodonato said both teams will have a distinct personality with the AA Regals full of local talent and the AAA squad beefed up with past Allan Cup team members and a some new key additions.

They started out this year focused fully on winning the Coy Cup but a series of circumstances put them on a course to pursue their fourth Allan Cup in a span of 12 years.

The opportunity came to light when BC Amateur Hockey’s Bob James contacted the Regals to ask if the team was interested in participating at the Allan Cup being held in northern BC this year. With Fort St. John Flyers automatically in as the host team, there was an opening for Powell River to attend by default if it accepted the invitation.

The Regals players were already committed to the Coy Cup but decided that they could fit in the Allan Cup without compromising their earlier commitment to their AA team.

They registered the AAA team by the October 1 deadline but soon after that things changed. “At the very last minute unknown to us,” explained Mastrodonato, “we got a note from Bob James telling us that Whitehorse had thrown their name in.

“So now there’s no automatic berth and Whitehorse and Powell River have to have a playoff to get in.”

In all likelihood that series for the Savage Cup would be played right here in Powell River in the spring. Powell River was already in the process of calling players and it quickly became apparent that filling its AAA roster wasn’t going to be an issue.

The AAA season for the Regals officially gets underway this weekend.

The Whitehorse Chiefs, which disbanded after winning the Allan Cup in 1993, is keen to play the Regals and offered to pay Powell River’s expenses to travel to the Yukon for a pair of games on November 20 and 21.

Mastrodonato was clear in his commitment to the AA roster built on Powell River hockey talent. “There will be an affiliation between the AAA and AA Regals so that any of the Regals on the AA team will be able to play on the AAA team under the affiliation rules.

The decision to chase both cups is a big bonus for hockey fans in Powell River. “The beauty of it, if it happens the way we would like it,” Mastrodonato said, “is we’re going to see playoff hockey in the form of a Coy Cup in the first week of March and also in a Savage Cup in the last week of March.”

The Regals team can’t be complacent about its bid to win its fourth Allan Cup and if it needed an extra incentive it would be to respond to remarks made by Chiefs coach and former player, Randy Merkel, who is quoted as saying, “It doesn’t get any easier than this to get a run at the Allan Cup.”

It’s on.

That's quite a challeneg to take on. Are you guys confirmed as Coy Cup hosts??? I though that was still TBA ???